Eating: Food City was proud to join Elm Hill Meats to sponsor the Ultimate Bologna Showdown. Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs participated, but Joey Chestnut brought home the belt. Here’s a video snip. Interesting, but something I don’t care to witness again.
Bagging: Congrats to Kobey Harris from our Powell, Tennessee, Food City. He won the state’s “best bagger” competition at the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association (TGCSA) convention. Kobey will represent the state in Las Vegas in February 2025 in the national competition for a chance to win $10,000. Contestants are judged on speed, bag-building technique, weight distribution between bags, style, attitude and appearance.
Harris, 19, joined the Food City team in 2021. He is currently a freshman at the University of Tennessee where he is pursuing a degree in marketing. He also is a member of the 4K-Barbershop Quartet High Def Harmony.
Food City executives congratulate Betsi James: Greg Sparks, James, Mickey Blazer and Joe Greene.
Funding scholarships: I was honored to be the first female and most recent inductee into the Tennessee Grocers Education Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association.
Rob Ikard, TGCSA president and CEO, said, “Betsi is deserving of this high honor, because she has made a lasting impact on the scholarship programs of TGEF. Her efforts will continue to bless families in Tennessee’s food industry for years to come.”
Eligibility for Hall of Eagles membership is achieved when an individual’s efforts on behalf of TGEF result in raising a total of $100,000. James exceeded this milestone through her fundraising activities.
For the past three years, James chaired both TGCSA’s East Tennessee Golf committee and TGEF’s East Tennessee Breaking Clays for College sporting clays event. James joined the Food City team in 1999 and currently serves as special events manager for the company’s Knoxville operating division, where she oversees special events, sports marketing initiatives and nonprofit relations.
“Congratulations to Betsi, with an enduring thanks for touching so many lives through her efforts,” said Ikard.
Betsi James is special events manager for Food City’s Knoxville and Chattanooga divisions.